[Vitamin D hormone in the 21st century clinic: pleiotropic effects and laboratory evaluation (a lecture)]

The lecture gives general information on recent discoveries of the physiology of the vitamin D hormone system, new views of the broadest spectrum of the peripheral effects of active forms of vitamin D, as well as an update on the clinical value of its deficiency in the occurrence of dysfunctions of the majority of vital organs and systems. It discusses the capacities of laboratory evaluation of cholecalciferol provision to diagnose vitamin D deficiency and to monitor it at the stage of pharmacological correction by determining its major transport form (24-hydroxyvitamin D) in serum. Main indications for the investigation of this biomarker and the current recommendations by the leading experts to present a laboratory result and its clinical interpretation are summarized.